The Egyptian Ramadan cuisine, the delightful sins of the holy month

Ramadan is the holiest month of the Hijri year, the most celebrated, and most observed.

And even though the month is mainly celebrated for more religious activities, to Egyptians, it is also celebrated by diverse pleasures, for the body; foods and drinks.

For Egyptians, as for most Muslims, the tradition of breaking their fast on few dates is a common practice. Dates are power reservoirs for the human body, they allow your dehydrated body to charge with extensive amount of sugar, which, along with water gives the body all the energy and refreshment, and prepares the stomach for the upcoming joys on the table.

Egyptian cuisine is unique in its own way with the majority of it comprising of vegetarian dishes.

I bet most of you never heard of “Jute” before. We all thought that Molokheya, as we call it in Egyptian, didn’t exist outside Egypt. This proved to be wrong! It’s served in other middle eastern countries such as Lebanon where, instead of a soup, it’s a stir fry of the same ingredients.

This delicious green soup is rich in flavor from the addition of garlic and coriander.

Mahshi as well is another authentic Egyptian dish, prepared from the stuffing which is a mixture of rice, herbs, tomato sauce and spices added to vegetables like cored eggplants, cabbage leaves or grapevine leaves. It’s one of the Egyptians’ favorite dishes.

After a long day with no food, Fattah becomes a real delicious delicacy, made with rice, bread crumbs and meat, seasoned with a spicy sauce of garlic and vinegar. Mostly served in a bowl, it is mainly eaten on auspicious occasions like Ramadan. A garnish of parsley would give it an added flavor.

Another refreshing stew of okra along with lamb/beef can fit for Iftar. After getting done with your main course, comes the time for the sweets, another pleasure of the many of Ramadan.

For a memorable finishing course, fragrant sweetmeats and desserts are popular.

Konafah is an Egyptian sweet made of a very thin noodle-like pastry. The pastry is mixed with butter and wrapped around a filling made out of nuts, whipped cream or both.

Basboosa is another delight, it is is a sweet cake thus, coconut is a popular option to add into this pastry, and to add to your delight.